my germanish shopping trolley
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this is the story of a idiot and his mini - the rude version of this thread can be found here LINKY
when i got it new it looked like this, way too much wheel gap, oem wheels of fail, and not much stance,
for anyone thats had or been in a mini the standard interior can be best described as a festival of plastic death with horrible seats
out with it all
you have a date with mr skip
next the sound of not much OE exhaust was in line for the chop, as with all OE exhausts it had turned into one pice of rust, air powered saw FTW
the stock cooper bumpers are not that nice so i picked up a set of bargin cooper S bumpers
next up was the OE manifold which even a thin hamster would get stuck in the primaries of
i got a call for buddy club UK asking if id be up for trying the new manifold they had designed, they know how to put a mani togther thats forsure
stock coopers are not to slow but there not quick either by any means so i picked this up as a 1st step, Kent cams road cam for it, i will move onto a newman rally cam but it needs injectors and a re map to run that as the top end would lean out outherwise and it needs the rev limit raised and idle maps done to make the rally cam run right
heres the kent
next was to put most of the insides back in, but re trimmed in black alacantera did it all myself and some of it does look pants but it was the 1st attempt and will be re done at some point but bad alacantera is still nicer that horrid light grey plastic stock
and yes it has a wooden dash and no i dont care
when i got it new it looked like this, way too much wheel gap, oem wheels of fail, and not much stance,
for anyone thats had or been in a mini the standard interior can be best described as a festival of plastic death with horrible seats
out with it all
you have a date with mr skip
next the sound of not much OE exhaust was in line for the chop, as with all OE exhausts it had turned into one pice of rust, air powered saw FTW
the stock cooper bumpers are not that nice so i picked up a set of bargin cooper S bumpers
next up was the OE manifold which even a thin hamster would get stuck in the primaries of
i got a call for buddy club UK asking if id be up for trying the new manifold they had designed, they know how to put a mani togther thats forsure
stock coopers are not to slow but there not quick either by any means so i picked this up as a 1st step, Kent cams road cam for it, i will move onto a newman rally cam but it needs injectors and a re map to run that as the top end would lean out outherwise and it needs the rev limit raised and idle maps done to make the rally cam run right
heres the kent
next was to put most of the insides back in, but re trimmed in black alacantera did it all myself and some of it does look pants but it was the 1st attempt and will be re done at some point but bad alacantera is still nicer that horrid light grey plastic stock
and yes it has a wooden dash and no i dont care
soad said:
I'll have a read - take it you dismantled it to bits pretty much. 
ive done the lot on my own, armed with a socket set and the hanyes manual theres no end to what i can destroy, i figured its a mini it cant be that hard and to be fair its not, ive got to the point where i refuse to pay people to work on my car Dr G said:
Mr Skip 
Dash needs to go piano black, will go nicely with the chairs and alcantara.
it will in the end (it was supposed to but if your as lazy as i am and try and sand a mini dash with an air powered sander youll soon need a new dash Dash needs to go piano black, will go nicely with the chairs and alcantara.
) the wooden one was free and much better than the awful fake brushed alloy one i had which is off to the fabirtactor to have a proper metal skin put over then be painted piano black, sadly i spunked all my money on the seats so it will have to wait lol
Mr eBay 
it was the victim of me + my fist attempt to alacantea something lordf said:
Dr G said:
Dash needs to go piano black, will go nicely with the chairs and alcantara.
it will in the end (it was supposed to but if your as lazy as i am and try and sand a mini dash with an air powered sander youll soon need a new dash ) the wooden one was free and much better than the awful fake brushed alloy one i had which is off to the fabirtactor to have a proper metal skin put over then be painted piano black, sadly i spunked all my money on the seats so it will have to wait lolI'd leave the dash in the lovely wood. I don't quite grasp the piano black thing, or black interiors generally. I like beige or grey with lots of wood.
thanks for the replys chaps, wooden dash is staying as i properly love it,
got a few more things on order, black gauge faces as the oe silver ones are nasty and still got to fit the seats and harnesses
stance wise it will be dropped arround 1-1.5 inches on 16x7s in ET38, its not a euro look or anything like that but i love a bit of lows,
got a few more things on order, black gauge faces as the oe silver ones are nasty and still got to fit the seats and harnesses
stance wise it will be dropped arround 1-1.5 inches on 16x7s in ET38, its not a euro look or anything like that but i love a bit of lows,
DangerousMike said:
just out of curiosity:
is the point of lowering a car not to improve its abilities rather than to do it for the looks, the lows, or its 'stance'?
both, my old cooper s was down 40mm on track coilovers as thats how the mini challenge cars run as i ran with near enough the same camber settings as they also had adjustable camber platesis the point of lowering a car not to improve its abilities rather than to do it for the looks, the lows, or its 'stance'?
on the cooper is a bit of both, up to 45mm on the minis is more than streetable and looks much better as with stock theres a hell of a lot of wheel gap and wheel gap is evil and must be banished
but im not one of the slamm it or silly streched tyres crowd as my car lives out in country so has to deal with the roads
Edited by lordf on Saturday 19th June 22:47
150bhp said:
If you didn't like the seats, dash, plastics, wheels, bumpers, and performance then why did you buy it? Why not just buy a car you like the look of, is comfortable and is fast enough in the first place?
yawn, thats missing the point, id do this to pretty much any car i bought, most oem wheels are horrible, most oe seats are i find uncomfy esp in hatches i get huge back pains in most unless im harnessed in why is a little modding such a crime, i took a 70%er to me and made it the car i want, this side of a 911 or a morgan areo 8 the mini is the only thing i like the look of and the performance while not great can be improved nicely
all in with all the mods and time this car has still cost me well under 4k to buy and do
Edited by lordf on Sunday 20th June 18:52
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